Breaking Down Walls
by Araela
Summary: Hawkeye has finally chosen who he wants to be with. And it's not Black Widow. Hurt but refusing to admit it, Natasha tries to build her wall back up again, determined to ignore those childish things called emotions. But when Captain America goes looking for her to make sure she's ok, Natasha isn't so sure that she can build her walls up. Not around him anyway. K to be safe.


**A/N: Hey guys been a while. I know I should be making an update on Hidden but this idea came into my head and wouldn't leave me alone. This little piece was inspired by a lot of things but mainly Captain America 2 and Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow. BTW totally suggest watching Next Avengers. Why I decided to write it in this universe only my muse knows. But anyway, enjoy the fanfics and R&R. Who knows, if enough like it I might write a sequel.**

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><p>Natasha stared at the bottom of her empty cup like it was Satan, sloshing around the remains of the ice cubes out of pure boredom. Well, mostly boredom. There were a few other reasons but the Russian beauty refused herself the privilege of indulging them. No longer finding herself entertained by her empty cup the spy turned her gaze to pedestrians and park goers. It was coming up to six o'clock and most we eager to get home before the little remaining sunlight faded. A middle aged woman hurried along, dragging her younger son behind her. The blue-eyed boy looked up at her and waved a timid hand in greeting. Not wanting to make the boy feel shunned but refusing to let her tough exterior slip, Natasha gave a slight smile and nod of the head, before looking away and finding something else to distract her. Try as she might through, the SHIELD agent couldn't keep her mind occupied for long before it unfaithfully returned to the reason why she sat disguised, and drinking iced tea at a boring little café stall in the middle of Central Park. And that reason was Hawkeye. Widow internally reprimanded herself for thinking of what happened<em> yet again.<em>

It had been on of those very rare days when the Black Widow had been given the day off, so she decided that she needed to clarify a few things with her old SHIELD partner. Ever since the cosmic cube incident the two had kept in touch to the point where Widow even allowed herself to think that things had returned to normal between them. After the first two phone calls went straight to Clint's message bank she became a bit worried; then decided it was in her best interest to speak to him face to face anyway. Natasha made a third phone call, but this one was to the house phone of Avengers Mansion, and left a message with Stark's AI saying she was on her way over to have a chat with the resident sharp-shooter. After a quick shower and change into civilian clothes the Black Widow began her slow walk from her apartment to the Avengers Mansion, which just happened to be thirteen blocks away. When Natasha had arrived at the mansion she was forced to wait a few minutes while _'Master Barton was ready'_ as JARIS had put it. When she was finally allowed into the building she was advised that Clint was in the kitchen waiting for her. Unfortunately for her she did know where that; she'd only ever been in the foyer. After several wrong turns and quiet cursing's the super spy ignored her ego and asked the AI for directions. Following her instructions Natasha found herself in the kitchen, and was met with the sight of Hawkeye in uniform with his mask pulled back; fiddling with an arrow.

"Clint," with the mention of his name the archer looked up and gave Natasha a slight smile.

"Got your message, what did need?"

_You_, was Widow's initial thought. "Clearly you didn't listen to the whole message, I said I wanted to talk."

"Ok, what about?" Clint had stopped fiddling with the arrow and gave her his attention. Natasha sighed in exasperation, there were very few people in this world that she trusted enough to let her walls come down. Clint was one of them; and he knew it too.

"Clint, I need to know. Are we..." she let the unspoken question hang in the air. Clint met her eyes with his, before looking away to glare at the far wall.

"Natasha," he sighed. "I'm sorry Tasha, but I don't think we can do that again. _I _can't do that again." Black Widow narrowed her eyes at him. She could read between the lines, not matter how much he thought she couldn't. She'd seen the way he was when he'd been called in on the SHEILD helicarrier. Hawkeye looked slightly dazed the whole time.

Mockingbird had the same expression.

"You're with Barbara," it came out as more of a statement then a question.

Clint found the courage to look Black Widow in the eyes. "I am."

Natasha held her posture, looking strong as ever on the outside. On the inside, however, her heart shattered. She let out a soft _I see _before turning on her heel and leaving. Clint called to her when she was at the front door. She whirled around in time to see Clint had followed her, and that he now gave her a pitying look. How she hated it.

"I am sorry,"

Natasha glared at him. "You should have told me sooner," with that she left.

Now the Black Widow sat at a sad little café drinking a beverage that she hated more than pity and cursed the world (and herself) for letting her fall back into the same trap twice. She'd let her walls drop and she was rewarded with pain. The same had happened when she was young, only then there were worse consequences then a broken heart. Natasha growled at herself for being so weak.

_I don't need this, love is for children anyway,_ the bitter thought stung her more then she realised it would. The redhead sighed then went back to swirling the now completely melted ice around, bowing her head. Her red hair fell forward from their spot tucked behind her ears and framed her face, shielding her from the shame of people seeing the few rebel tears that dared to leave their tear ducts.

"Is this seat taken?" Natasha felt herself stiffen at the familiar voice. She looked up and found herself staring into the face of Steven Rodgers, AKA Captain America.

Not trusting her voice to answer Natasha shook her head before looking away again, for fear of more tears. Steve sat in the chair gingerly, almost as if he were expecting it to implode or something. He sat forward on the edge of the seat and rested his hands on the table in front of him. He too wore civilian clothing; adorning tracksuit pants, a white t-shirt and a matching jacket with a hood. The hood was pulled up to hide his face from paparazzi and the like.

"I tried to tell him,"

Tasha looked up, somewhat confused. "Excuse me?"

Steve looked at her. "I tried to tell him, to get him to tell you about his relationship with Bobbi," Widow scowled at her name. "But he didn't think it was an issue,"

"Yes well, that's Hawkeye for you, never thinking,"

Steve smiled. "Wouldn't be Hawkeye if he did,"

Natasha stared hard into Steve's blue eyes. "Why are you here Captain?"

Steve ever looked away from Tasha's stare, only returning it with a gentle look. "To see if you're ok. I saw what happened in the kitchen,"

The spy glared then. "Didn't think Captain America was one for eavesdropping,"

"Monitor Duty actually, since the Skrull invasion the Avengers monitor the main living areas of the mansion as well as the city."

"I see, so you were spying then,"

The soldier frowned. "Look, Natasha. What Clint did; it was wrong. You were right, he should have told you sooner. I'm here as a friend, making sure his teammate is ok."

The Russian beauty stopped glaring at him, but still didn't smile in return. "Teammate?"

"Yes, teammate, you're a reserve member of the Avengers remember? That makes you my teammate," Steve then reached up his left hand to pull his hood further forward when a young man with a camera walked by, staring at the pair.

_This _Tasha smiled at. She reached up and pulled the Captain's hand down and held it in her own, much to his surprise. "Try not to look dark and mysterious, it just makes them more suspicious. Just relax and act like you're having a genuine conversation,"

Taking the advise she offered and following it as best he could, eventually the man no longer held interest and strolled off. Steve looked up and smiled his appreciation.

"Thank you, it's not easy to hide from them." he told her with a grateful expression.

Finally, Widow caved to his charm and smiled back. "Only if you don't know how,"

"I'm sure you'd know more then me," Steve replied, happy he'd been able to get a smile out of the woman at last.

Tasha sighed and sat back in her chair, the Captain doing the same. For a while they just sat there and made small talk about random subjects, such as villains, iced tea, Central Park cafes, Stark Industries, Tony's relationship with his secretary, their suspicions on the matter. Ok so the last three weren't so random, but Natasha didn't care . Steve was helping her do the one thing she couldn't do alone, and that was get her mind of Clinton Barton.

"Natasha?," Widow pulled herself from her thoughts and rested her eyes on Steve's concerned ones.

"Sorry, just thinking,"

Steve's concern spread from his eyes and out onto his face. "Is it..."

Widow ummed softly. "Yes. And no."

The blonde gave her a look. "Care to explain what you mean by that?"

Natasha turned her green eyes towards him and gifted him with a rare grateful smile. "Very few people in this world see me with my walls down Captain, even fewer return the favour,"

Leaving the War hero to decipher her cryptic reply the redheaded assassin took her leave. She had only walked a couple of yards when the Captain jugged to catch up with her. She turned to give him a look that clearly read _'what do you think you're doing' _when she found that he was already looking at her. There was a softness in his eyes that almost mad her blush. Almost. Tasha gave a slight smirk in return and simply looked ahead of her. If the Captain was so set on walking her home then she might as well let him. After all, she had already tried to tell him that he didn't need to with no success. However there was still that niggling doubt in her mind, that little voice of caution that had been ingrained into her from so many years of experience, that said he could be trusted. But Widow was quick to extinguish the thought, this was Captain America not Tony Stark. It was strange to her how two very, _very _different people could become such close friends, hysterical even. Tony was like the rebellious child, and Steve was the gentle school boy.

_Yeah, a school boy with the body of Chris Evans (soz guys, couldn't resist :P), _Natasha covered her deep blush with a faked cough.

"Sounds like you need a cup of chicken soup," Steve smirked.

"I've been in worse conditions," Steve shook his head at the scarlet beauty. A few yards later Natasha stood with Steve outside her apartment complex.

"You know Captain, you didn't really need to walk me home,"

"I know, I figured you might enjoy the company," once again Widow couldn't stop herself from smiling.

"I did," Natasha smiled. Taking a tentative step forward she gently rubbed a thumb over his cheek. "Thank you Steven,"

Turning around she left the Avenger to his dazed thoughts and walked inside the building, not stopping until she reached the elevator. There she turn and gave one last smile to the Captain as the doors slide shut. Natasha stepped back until her back met the wall. A slight grin split onto her face as she let her head rest on the back wall.

She should spend time with Steve more often.

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><p><strong>AN: So, what'd you think? I apologize for any OOCness, I did as much familiarization with Widow's character as possible. But other then that let me know how I did, please let me know if there are any grammar mistakes and the like so I can fix them. I did a spell check but I like to be thorough. Don't forget to review :)**


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